Index of Commodity Prices March 2024

Preliminary estimates for March indicate that the index decreased by 4.9 per cent (on a monthly average basis) in SDR terms, after decreasing by 1.9 per cent in February (revised). The rural and non-rural subindices decreased in the month, while the base metals subindex increased. In Australian dollar terms, the index decreased by 5.1 per cent in March.

Over the past year, the index has decreased by 15.3 per cent in SDR terms, led by lower thermal coal, iron ore, coking coal, liquified natural gas and lithium prices. Lithium (Spodumene) was added to the index for the first time, alongside the annual reweighting. The index has decreased by 14 per cent in Australian dollar terms.

Consistent with previous releases, preliminary estimates for iron ore, coking coal, thermal coal and LNG export prices are being used for the most recent months, based on market information. Using spot prices for the bulk commodities index, the index decreased by 7.2 per cent in March in SDR terms, to be 17.8 per cent lower over the past year.

For further details regarding the construction of the index, please refer to ‘Changes to the RBA Index of Commodity Prices: 2013’ in the March 2013 issue of the Bulletin and ‘Weights for the Index of Commodity Prices’ (April 2024).

Details are in the attached table and graph.